Canucks induct Mattias Ohlund into Ring of Honor, celebrate by defeating Lightning 4-2

Hello, everyone. Sean Larson here. I am filling in on recap duty tonight, making my return to Canucks Misconduct after a half-season break due to a busy work schedule. I’ll mostly be handling social media this year (so you should definitely go follow us on Twitter), but will come in off the bench for recaps when needed. On to tonight’s action!

The 30-second Rundown

On a night where the Canucks honored their greatest defenseman with a permanent spot in Rogers Arena, Vancouver bounced back from an embarrassing collapse against the Hurricanes, coming out with a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Bo Horvat scored the eventual game-winner on the power play in the third period after the Canucks fell behind early.

Brandon Sutter and Luca Sbisa also scored, while Alex Burrows put the icing on the cake with an empty-net goal.

Ryan Miller got the win, stopping 25-of-27 shots as the Canucks improved to 13-16-2 on the year.

Ohlund Inducted Into Ring of Honor

Before the game, the Canucks inducted legendary defenseman Mattias Ohlund into their Ring of Honor, joining Orland Kurtenbach, Kirk McLean, Thomas Gradin, Harold Snepsts and Pat Quinn in the rafters at Rogers Arena.

Ohlund spent 11 years patrolling the blue line in Vancouver and is the highest scoring defenseman in franchise history.

First Period

It didn't take long for the first penalty of the game to occur as Victor Hedman was sent off for a delay of game 24 seconds in. The Canucks were looking to improve on their power play performance from their recent road trip when they went 2-for-17 on the man advantage.

It looked as if the Canucks had taken an early 1-0 lead when Loui Eriksson tipped in a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy, but after a further review, it was correctly determined that Jayson Megna was offsides earlier during the play.

Later in the first period, Hedman redeemed his earlier penalty by scoring the game’s opening goal, firing a one-timer past Ryan Miller to put the Lighting up 1-0 at 6:31. The goal was Hedman’s sixth of the year.

Scoring first has been huge for the Lightning this year as they were 10-1-0 in games when they strike first heading into tonight’s game.

Second Period

Just over 90 seconds into the second period, the Canucks tied things up as Brandon Sutter scored off a turnover forced by Marcus Granlund. The Vancouver defenseman chased down Slater Koekkoek, came away with the puck and slid a pass over to Sutter from his knees. Sutter took care of the rest with a big one-timer.

Later in the second period, the Canucks took their first lead of the night when Luca Sbisa scored his first goal of the year on the rebound to put Vancouver up 2-1.

As this was Sbisa’s first goal of the season, we were introduced to his choice in goal song, and oh boy was it a beauty. You'll want to turn up the volume for this one as we take you back to 2004.

Third Period

Early in the third period, Jannik Hansen was sent off for tripping, sending the Lightning to the power play. Tampa Bay capitalized on the chance as Cory Conacher scored his first goal in over two years, evening things up at 2-2 with 16:07 left to play.

The Canucks got one back as Alex Killorn was sent off for holding against Luca Sbisa just over six minutes into the third.

On the power play, Markus Granlund attempted to dump a puck into the offensive zone, which was conveniently tipped by Loui Eriksson, who looked like he was more trying to protect himself than deflect the puck. The deflection rebounded off Vasilevskiy, and Bo Horvat was in all alone in the slot to deliver the go-ahead goal at 7:46.

GIF of the Night

Smelling salts are a hockey player’s best friends, especially when you get into the secret stash of the good stuff.

Sean’s 3 Stars of the Night

Bo Horvat - 1 goal, 1 assist

Bo Horvat was looking good tonight, delivering the eventual game-winning goal thanks to an unexpected deflection from Loui Erikkson along the boards. The goal was Horvat’s ninth of the year.

Loui Eriksson - 0 goals, 2 assists

In the second period, Erriksson stopped Slater Koekkoek, quickly got the puck to Markus Granlund, who found Brandon Sutter to tie things at 1-1. In the third, Eriksson then tipped the puck that provided Horvat with his game-winner.

Luca Sbisa - 1 goal, 0 assists

Luca Sbisa deserves to be on this list because how often does he get a chance to be on it? Sbisa scored his first goal of the year in the second period, putting the Canucks up 2-1.

What’s on Tap

The Canucks now turn their attention to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday at 1:00 PM right here at Rogers Arena. There will be an interesting dynamic to the game as a certain ex-head coach will be looking for a career milestone.